1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image outputting system which can be used for remote monitoring with an input image, and to a control program for outputting an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are techniques related to an image displaying system for outputting and displaying images shot by a camera on a displaying unit such as a monitor or the like, in a manner which meets the requests by a user such as a purpose of the image or the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No.52-013721 discloses a technique in which a television receiver including an magnetic recording/reproducing unit displays images of television and images reproduced by the electromagnetic recording/reproducing unit such as a video tape recorder or the like, by suitably switching between both images.
In many industries such as manufacturing, distributing, financing and the like, monitoring by a camera is widely used for employing security, or for enhancing efficiency of operations as one purpose of an image displaying system. Conventionally, many of the image displaying systems used for monitoring have employed a method of recording analog image signal from an installation point of a camera in a video recorder or the like. Recently, network environments that allow high speed and high volume transmissions have become widespread, permitting remote monitoring systems to remotely monitor obtained images. Generally in a remote monitoring, image data is transmitted to a monitoring center via an IP network, Internet or the like. The image data that is transmitted is digitized and compressed in a format of MPEG (moving picture expert group), motion-JPEG or the like, in accordance with the relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the transmission rate of the used network, and the like.
Recently, image displaying systems have become increasingly widely employed as a form of monitoring system. Accompanying this, also a request by a user for a monitoring system which can monitor images from cameras installed at points at one monitoring center or the like in order to concentratedly monitor many branches, for example, in the case of financial institutions or a chain of stores and the like, even when points to be monitored by installing cameras increase in number. And as the points to be monitored increase in number, the load for monitoring in the monitoring center increases.
As for an image displaying system for solving the above problem, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-339923 discloses a system which detects an event requesting for the display of the image and which causes a monitor to display the image. According to a technique disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-339923, images whose events have occurred i.e. the images requiring the monitoring among the image signals received from a plurality of cameras are displayed preemptively on the monitor. Thereby, in a monitoring center, a user does not have to search and find the image to be interested in among the plurality of the images.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-34250 discloses a system which assigns importance to each of the images so that the images are displayed according to the importance. According to the technique disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-34250, the importance is determined based on the events to be occurred to subjects of cameras or the like so that the image with a greater importance is emphasized or displayed in a prescribed position, thereby making it easier for the user to pay attention to that image.
Besides, there is an image displaying system for simultaneously displaying a plurality of images by sharing one screen of a monitor. For example, sixteen images are simultaneously displayed on one monitor by dividing a screen of the monitor into areas in the same size. Alternatively, the image to be displayed is switched to another in accordance with a prescribed time interval so that images of more points are displayed on one monitor. Also, there is a system which combines and uses the method of dividing a display and the method of switching images by a prescribed time interval.
In the above image displaying systems using the method of dividing a display or the method of switching images by the time interval, it is very difficult for a single user to understand the entire situation by viewing the simultaneously displayed plural images or the images which are automatically switched by a prescribed time interval when he or she is to refer to and monitor the images. Conventionally, in order to avoid omission of monitoring, a load on one person is reduced by increasing manpower or the like. However, a broader space for systems is required to provide monitors in the greater number. Further, in the system which switches the images by a prescribed time interval, when an event occurs, the image of the event may not be displayed on the monitor.
Further, in a system disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-339923 in which images are switched by an occurrence of an event, the images are switched too frequently in the case that events occur frequently. As a result, there is a problem in practical use that display time for each one of the images becomes too short so that an image is switched to another before the user actually views the image and confirms the event.